Constructivist literature has become increasingly prominent in the area of special education. The nature of constructivism and its relevance and limitations for students with special needs is discussed, as is the importance of appropriate research in determining the efficacy of instructional interventions. A search of the literature into the efficacy of constructivism for students with special needs in K-12 settings revealed a predominance of descriptive and discussion-based research and very limited experimental research. The limited existing experimental research indicates that constructivist instructional approaches may have circumscribed applications in special education. Specifically, they may be appropriate to applications for students with learning difficulties in areas such as science education. Nevertheless, there are major methodological and interpretative problems that undermine confidence in the existing body of research. These problems include an absence of adequate procedural reliability data, interventions that often involve teaching single or very small groups of students, and conditions that do not approximate regular classrooms. There is also evidence suggesting that constructivist approaches may be inappropriate and ineffective for students with intellectual disabilities. The need for considerable caution and extensive further research in this area is evident, in light of the ready adoption of constructivism in schools and the increase of constructivist literature.

This case study examined the effects of a parent-presented Direct Instruction decoding program on the reading and language skills of a child with high functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder. Following the 23 hour intervention, reading comprehension, listening comprehension and fluency skills improved to grade level, whilst statistically significant improvements were also noted in receptive language skills. There were no significant changes in phonological and decoding skills for which various possibilities are explored, including the student’s prior double deficit in phonological skills. The findings are consistent with research suggesting that increased intervention intensity, along with greater emphasis on phonological skills may be necessary to advance the decoding skills of children displaying a double deficit. The reading and language outcomes were sufficiently promising to warrant further studies employing methodologically sound group designs with this population.

Former students (34) of a residential school for students with emotional-behavioural difficulties, and their parents, were interviewed to determine their perceptions about the educational and social adjustment of the students. Following reintegration into mainstream schools, or work, the majority of the former students were reported as coping at least adequately with the social and academic demands of their lives. Both former students and their parents held positive perceptions regarding the students’ special school experience, and in general believed that the students’ attendance at the special school had facilitated their subsequent development and adjustment. The results are discussed in terms of the need for this first study in New Zealand to be supplemented by further research to validate the beliefs of former students and their parents, and some of the major attendant methodological problems which confront research in this area.

This paper is written primarily as a call to those of us in the special education field in Australia to become more actively involved in responding to the popular culture construction of disability as it takes place in the mainstream media. It is not the aim to define the form such activism should take but rather to raise awareness of the issue for further discussion. It is argued that Australian special educators and researchers are currently passive in relation to our negative media representations of disability with little to be found in local research literature that shows a specific interest in the issue. It is proposed that the television news show, A Current Affair, which airs daily during the week on the Nine Network in Australia, at 6.30 p.m. following the six o’clock news, offers an illustrative example of social and cultural construction that unwittingly contributes to stereotypes about young people with challenging behaviours and disability. Such stereotyping can be laid bare by critique as a means of countering the impact of such uninformed, and often sensationalised, media images.